With corporate media paying nonstop attention to the proxy war in Ukraine and the flood of refugees (at least, those refugees who look like well-fed Europeans) and moderate attention to galloping inflation, and economic sanctions against Russia with consequent fuel and food shortages yet to come, who noticed this catastrophic news?
This morning I had to scroll through a couple of screens of my big daily newspaper to find an article on the subject after I'd seen the headline on Twitter yesterday. I went looking for it because it was a headline that stayed with me, a reminder that the most pressing security threat to humans -- no matter what wars are raging -- is climate crisis.
Both poles experienced temperatures 70 degrees Farenheit (21 degrees Celsius) higher than normal last week, and scientists speculate that their previous belief in the relative stability of the eastern ice sheet may have been in error.
The East Antarctic Ice Sheet holds so much frozen water that, if it goes, the melting will cause planetary oceans to rise 160 feet (48.768 meters).
That seems like a hell of a lede to me, but what do I know?
One thing I do know is that militarism, and in particular U.S. militarism, is a major driver of global warming and climate crisis.
I've been collecting research and reporting on this for years. It's a little know fact that is routinely ignored in the corporate press, even when they are cheerleading for war.
Space exploration including rocket launches are also in the news, consistently reported in tones of breathless excitement, but it also contributes to climate change as well as other environmental harms (think PFAS and toxic rain) and damage to the ozone layer.
We ignore these realities at our peril. Because one thing I know for certain:
our planet's atmosphere is not patriotic and there are no good or bad emissions.
Scientific information is routinely subject to political control, but that does not change facts on the ground.
Ground that is not yet underwater, at least for now.
Youth Climate Strike leader Anna Siegel speaking on June 21, 2019 in Portland Maine
As the September 20 climate strike approaches, I wanted to share selected excerpts from the June 21 news conference in Portland for the Bath Iron Works conversion campaign. It would be well worth your while to view the video of the whole event, as much wisdom and insightful calls to action were shared. (If the embedded YouTube video does not work for you, you can view it at the link here.)
Barry Dana, Penobscot Nation:
Love the earth, treat the earth
as you would treat your own mother... Do no harm to the earth, or that harm
will fall upon you and future generations.
We’re living today as though we
have infinite resources, infinite growth, and that is unsustainable.
Anna Siegel, Youth Climate Strike:
When I blew out my 13 candles,
the clock in my head ticked forward: one less year. That is what I believe
climate insecurity is...Youth worldwide don’t know how long they’ll have a
healthy planet, or what the future holds.
Campaigns like this effort to
convert Bath Iron Works are what alleviates these fears and bring light to what
can be difficult activism. We are working on a local solution to the climate
crisis that has global impacts.
Next year when I blow out my
birthday candles I hope I think about the progress we’ve made not how time is
running out.
Luke Sekera, SEEDS of Peace:
As the climate crisis unfolds
and escalates before us, we need to accept responsibility for our roles in the problem in
order to change our behavior patterns. We must also put significant pressure on industrial
polluters to hold them accountable and use their capital investments to
re-imagine their destructive business models as soon as possible.
The military-industrial complex
is among the largest polluters in the United States, and Bath Iron Works here
in Maine is a significant part of it.
Considering how much the US
spends on national defense I know that we have the resource necessary to commit
to converting the practices of industrial centers such as BIW into environmentally sustainable ones.
We are owed a shift in
direction especially as a growing climate crisis poses a national security threat.
Besides the loss of life, what
will the carbon foot print of yet another war be? Will another Zumwalt give us
clean air and water?
I work hard at trying not to be
afraid.
Our military appears to be
failing us, not protecting us. Iran is not the problem -- U.S. imperialism and
America’s ongoing quest for oil and other resources is... What can we expect
from a govt that spends 10 times more on fossil fuel subsidies than on
education?
We need to stop investing in
this war culture and start investing in our youth and restoration of our
planet.
Nickie Sekera, Community Water Justice:
Just as bottled water is being
sold as a false solution to our global water problems, we’re being led to
believe that half of our discretionary spending should continue to maintain a
non-viable excess of dominion.
What we call a just transition
...could help align Bath Iron Works’ own values as published on their website -- which includes being a good corporate citizen and supporting the
environment.
We are only as strong and as
innovative as we can imagine. It is up to everyone of us to put our imaginations
together and mobilize as if everyone’s lives depended on each action.
Justin Beth, Maine Green Independent Party:
Right now we are on the verge
of war with Iran..our government thinks that we need to protect shipping
channels...to secure our oil future here in the U.S. We do not need this oil. If we truly invested in conversion of Bath Iron Works to renewable energy
production, we would then have the means to say, “No we don’t need that oil. We
don’t need to protect those shipping lanes. Let’s get out of those wars. Let’s
invest in the future.”
It is time that we stood up for
Mainers and for Americans that don’t want war. We’ve had enough of it!
It is time for our government
to really respect the needs of the people. The majority of Americans want
a Green New Deal...that promises to end these wars.
The idea of this Bath Iron
Works conversion is the first step on that path to a Green New Deal that we so
very much need...we can be the leader on a Green New Deal here in Maine to end
war and produce the renewable energy that we need for a sustainable future.
Jill Stein, Green Party US 2016 candidate for President:
Conversion at Bath Iron
Works... really should be the launching pad for the Green New Deal.
That Green New Deal would
create 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, which is basically what the science
tells us that we need to do. This is an emergency program, and we should settle
for nothing less.
It’s also a solution to our
broken economy which is failing so many Americans.
The Bath iron workers...have
had to sacrifice gains in wages and pension benefits, have lost health care, in
order to be “competitive” to attract these contracts… the workers are victims
of this economy that forces us into militarization.
The Green New Deal is
essentially a revolution for our economy, our climate, and it makes the wars
for oil obsolete.
BIW workers.. once were
demanding of our elected officials that they fight for Green contracts with the
same vigor that they fight for these war contracts.
Rob Shetterly, Americans Who Tell The Truth:
Militarism is not protecting us
in a dangerous world, it’s making the world far more dangerous.
We’re here because we
love...the earth, all its species, its people, its children, its hope...we will
do what we need to do to protect these things.
Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space:
[During the state-wide campaign
against General Dynamics’ tax giveaway from the state of Maine] I did a 36 day
hunger strike and on most of those days I went to the shipyard at noon during
shift change and I got to speak to a lot of workers. And I can tell you that
there are many workers who said, We’d rather do something else. We’d rather
build something that we’re proud of. We don’t feel so great.
And most of
them that said that were younger guys, people who grew up in schools that were
teaching them about climate catastrophe. And so they really, really understand
the connection when we stand outside the gates with our signs.
Mary Beth Sullivan, Peaceworks of Greater Brunswick:
The climate crisis is the true
security problem that we in the world must organize to confront.
Our vision is that we wrestle
our hard earned tax dollars from the permanent war economy..that we retool our
weapons manufacturing plants and pay our neighbors to build an alternative
energy infrastructure.
The youth of our world are so
very clear what the real crisis is..let’s listen to their vision, and mobilize
to make it happen.
Dud Hendrick, Veterans for Peace:
This is now: a fleet of
warships larger than the next 13 largest [nations] combined, part of the U.S.
military that has the largest carbon footprint on the planet.
Today there are over 800 U.S.
bases on foreign lands, all playing a role in the despoiling of the
environment.
Now we know the consequences of
wanton disregard for our beloved planet are undeniable. Is there time for
change?
We’ve invited each of our Congressional representatives to be here today. None are, not even a
staffer. Tomorrow they will all be at the christening. So will we -- demanding
conversion.
Sue Pastore 350 Maine:
Based on current realities,
what is predictable is great pain for many, a pain that could be avoided or at
least minimized.
We are confident that people
have the power to take effective action and to attend to the crisis.
Success requires action.
Success requires sacrifice...We need to change business as usual. We need to
move on.
The intersection of jobs and
the economy, militarism and violence, and the climate and the health of the
natural world is an undeniable opportunity for such action. In Maine that
interaction and opportunity is revealed at Bath Iron Works...there is
tremendous skill, tremendous infrastructure, so much ability there. Such
potential is limited by its current support of military development...Conversion
removes such limits.
Ken Jones, retired professor, University of Southern Maine:
I wrote a poem entitled “A
Prayer In the Face Of The Destroyer”:
I do not consent to your
presence or your future.
I’ve come to ring the bell of
freedom from war, to awaken us from our dreams of conquest, so that we may see
the storms coming for us all.
We have sown the seeds of our
own destruction.
Let us move our hearts and
spirits so that we see what we have done...let us turn this ship around:
decommission it, unchristen it.
Patsy Messier, Bath Iron Works employee (now retired):
(Note: I delivered Patsy's written remarks as she was working at BIW on the day of the event.)
And, of course, as people get older and wiser, personal changes are inevitable. You learn why it has been so difficult to provide the American Dream for yourself and your families. Why people and huge companies are denying income inequality, climate change, and racial injustice throughout the world. To me, it all boils down to greed. And to change that attitude is like turning a destroyer in the water. It takes patience, hope, and persistence to this task with the goal of making the economy work for all its peoples. It's that important to the whole world!
I believe BIW has the capacity with all the equipment and/or people that are already there for the conversion to happen pretty easily.
Imagine wind turbine platforms, fast trains, or Ships of Peace (Mercy Ships) being built at BIW. I can just imagine the workers' pride then!
Bill Slavick, Pax Christi Maine:
The military-industrial complex
owns Washington, including those Maine has sent there.
The military is the most
polluting operation on the planet.
Most of us who were arrested at Bath Iron Works war ship "christening" 4/28/19, after our release from the Bath Police Department. Jim Anderberg, who supported the protest as a photographer, posted this comment:
The last Zumwalt class destroyer was launched at Bath Iron Works today. 25 people were arrested in a protest. A $7.5 billion boondoggle.
Think what that money could be used for to alleviate our use of fossil fuels and address the global warming crisis.
The #LBJ25 are mostly Mainers: Natasha Mayers, Whitefield; Ginny Schneider, South Portland; Jim Freeman, Verona Island; Connie Jenkins, East Blue Hill; Meredith Bruskin, Swanville; Suzanne Hedrick, Nobleboro; Dixie Searway, Parsonsfield; Ridgely Fuller, Belfast; Dud Hendrick, Deer Isle; Dan Ellis, Brunswick; Carolyn Coe, Orland; The Reverend Mair Honan, Freeport; Ethan Hughes, Belfast (who returned home from Bath by bicycle!); Russell Wray, Hancock; Judy Robbins, Sedgwick; Robert Shetterly, Brooksville; Jason Rawn, Lincolnville; Mike Donnelly, Brunswick; Mary Garvey-Donnelly, Brunswick; Mark Roman, Solon; and Lisa Savage, Solon.
We were grateful to be joined by several Veterans for Peace who traveled to Maine for the protest: Ellen Barfield, Baltimore, Maryland; Don Cunning, Old Bridge, NJ;Julius Orkin, Bergenfield, NJ; and Roy Pingel, Queens, NY.
Other supporters of the protest: Peter Baldwin of Waldo County Peace & Justice who brought his drum; VFP members Ellen Davidson and Tarak Kauff, who designed and produced the banners pictured above; VFP's John Morris and Ian Collins, logistical and jail support; song leader Rosie Paul of Peaceworks; BIW stalwarts Maureen and George Oestensen of Smilin' Trees Disarmament Farm and Akemi Wray of Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST); photographers Peter Robbins, Roger Leisner, Regis Tremblay, and Richard Kane (who was on hand filming for a documentary on portraitist Rob Shetterly of Americans Who Tell The Truth) and a sound technician with Kane whose name I didn't catch before I was arrested. It would be impossible for me to name all of the 75 or so folks who turned out yesterday, but I love you all!
Suzanne Hedrick, the eldest of those arrested, was featured in this great video by Peaceworks.
(If you're unable to view the embedded video, you can see it here on YouTube.) I departed suddenly from my role as MC at the rally where speakers noted the urgency of the need for conversion as the Pentagon and General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works barrel full speed ahead toward the cliff of climate catastrophe. I look forward to videos sharing both the first half of the rally and the second half, which I missed after moving into Washington Street to help halt traffic. A partial list of the news coverage: "Twenty-five protesters arrested near Bath Iron Works" Darcie Moore, Times Record & Portland Press Herald "BIW Christening" Kennebec Journal & Waterville Morning Sentinel
Dud Hendrick, VFP, engaged in civil resistance (Photo credit: David Sharp, Associated Press)
"LBJ's Daughters Christen BIW Destroyer Ship Bearing Their Father's Name" Caitlin Troutman, carrying water for the military industrial complex at Democrat leaning news service Maine Public. The LBJ 25 were charged with obstructing a public way and ordered to appear in court on June 18 at 1pm in West Bath. If you're in the area, we hope to see you there!
.jpeg)
